Najib's trial: this week's highlights

KUALA LUMPUR, June 14 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s role in SRC International Sdn Bhd’s dealings, his allegedly full control over SRC’s administration following the amendment to Article 117 of SRC’s Memorandum, and as "ultimate boss", were amongst key evidence disclosed in his trial this week.

Day 21 (June 10): 

• Former Retirement Fund Incorporated (KWAP) chief executive officer (CEO) Datuk Azian Mohd Noh testified that Najib, who was also the finance minister at the time, was her ultimate boss and thus had influence over KWAP's decision to grant a loan to SRC International Sdn Bhd.
• Azian, 66, the 38th prosecution witness in Najib's trial said although there was no legal compulsion on the accused's part, the former prime minister still wielded a certain degree of influence, given that he was the finance minister and the fact that Ministry of Finance Incorporated owned SRC International Sdn Bhd.
• “The words compulsion and influence give different connotations. There was no legal compulsion but I cannot say the same for the word influence. The annotation in the (SRC International loan application) letter came from the prime minister and finance minister in charge of KWAP.
• “He was my ultimate boss so I cannot deny there was a certain amount of influence," she said.

• SRC International Sdn Bhd board of directors ex-chairman Tan Sri Ismee Ismail as the prosecution’s 39th witness, testified that the reason he resigned from the company was because of the issues arising from the resolution to approve the unaudited SRC’s account for 2013. 
• Ismee, 54, who was also a former 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) non-executive director, said  he resigned because he did not agree with the CEO's management of the company's accounts and finance. Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil was then the CEO of SRC.
• “The management of SRC had earlier requested for the board members to sign a resolution to approve audited account for the year 2013.
• “But, later we found out that the audited account, which we approved, was not audited yet. I was made aware of the account by a newspaper report which stated that the SRC did not open an account with the Companies Commission Malaysia (CCM),” he said.

• Ismee told the High Court that all board members of SRC visited the headquarters of Bank BSI Limited, now known as EFG International, in Lugano, Switzerland,  in Sept 2013, to ensure that the funds belonging to the company were still at the bank.
• “We had to go because many issues had arisen regarding the funds in Switzerland. We had to go and check with the bank because all this while, the management only talked about it. We went to get comfort that our money is secured in BSI Bank,” he said.
• In reference to one of the meeting minutes which stated that a sum of money was brought back from Switzerland after the visit, he said the money was brought back as it had not been used for the original investment purposes.
• He said the money was part of the funds meant for investment in a joint venture with an Abu Dhabi investment company, Aabar Investments.

Day 22 (June 11):

• The witness also testified that Najib had various  roles in the operation of SRC as the ex-prime minister was the adviser emeritus of the company due to the inclusion of clause 117 to SRC’s Memorandum and Articles of Association.
• He said Najib was a shareholder of SRC in his capacity as finance minister as the company was owned by Finance Ministry Incorporated.
• “I followed  the instructions of the prime minister who was also adviser emeritus of SRC, finance minister and corporate representative of Finance Ministry Incorporated," he said.
• Ismee maintained his evidence that Najib  had full control over the administration of SRC based on the amendment to Article 117 which was added into the Memorandum and Articles of Association of SRC by Najib, who is also SRC Advisor Emeritus.

• “Article 117 implies that SRC must take into consideration the Advisor Emeritus’ advice in material and strategic matters as well as execute the advice.
• Najib was the Advisor Emeritus and was also Prime Minister at the time,” he said adding that the Advisor Emeritus should have control over SRC's board of directors and the company.
• The amendment was to add Article 117 into SRC International's memorandum of association, which led to Najib's appointment as advisor emeritus of the company.
• Ismee further said SRC received a RM4 billion loan from KWAP and a grant of RM20 million from the Malaysian government as startup capital.

Day 23 (June 12):

• Ismee said  the SRC board of directors was never told the RM2 billion second loan facility obtained from KWAP was credited into a 'mystery' SRC bank account and later debited out on the same day.
• He also admitted that the board was not aware of the 'other' active SRC bank account opened at AmBank  and also said that the board had no control over it.
• The witness also agreed with the suggestion by Najib’s lawyer Harvinderjit Singh that the SRC 's board of directors  was uncertain about the veracity of a proposed joint venture involving Abu Dhabi-based company, Aabar Investments PJS.
• Harvinderjit was referring to the minutes of meeting in which Nik Faisal told the company's board in 2011 about the proposed joint venture following a high-level meeting between representatives of Malaysia and Abu Dhabi, which led to the initial application by SRC for an RM3.95 billion loan from KWAP.
• Ismee also concurred with Harvinderjit's assertion that the BoD was not shown any other documents by Nik Faisal as proof of this proposed joint venture.

Day 24 (June 13):

• Ismee told the High Court  that he did not meet Najib over doubts in the Finance ministry subsidiary’s account auditing status as he wanted to investigate the matter.
• “ I needed to investigate the non-filing and I called audit (firm) Deloitte on the delay. They (Deloitte) said they had not received several audit confirmations from the management.
• “I took responsibility and asked what audit confirmations were outstanding. They (Deloitte) gave me info which deals with local banks, among others. It was on my table for two weeks and I dealt with it one by one. I took responsibility to close the accounts,” he said.

Day 25 (June 14):

• Ismee denied that the proposal to change ownership of SRC International Sdn Bhd from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to Minister of Finance (Incorporated) (MKD) was mooted by the company itself.
• Under cross examination, he said the ownership change was approved by Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in February 2012 on the prime minister’s instructions through MKD. 
• The hearing presided by High Court Judge Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali continues on June 17 with cross examination of the same witness.

-- BERNAMA